This weekend, near perfect weather and the top skimmers from around the world converged on the beach behind Edgewater Beach Resort to compete in the 11th annual Zap Pro/Am Skim Jam contest. Onlookers in the hundreds, some enthusiasts of the sport, others just enjoying the extreme event, watched the likes of Morgan Just, Corbin Dull, Patrick Hunt, Anthony Cox, Derek Shenton and others shred ebbing surf up and down the beach. Efforts from Mr. Surf’s Surf Shop on Panama City Beach, Zap, Skim USA, Global Surf Industries, Surftech and others filled the beach with activities and free giveaways.
This year’s event had big expectations and boy did it live up to them. The skimming was absolutely amazing. Awesome rides were skimmed by several triggering gasps and waves of applause from those taking in the competition from the shore. Next to the event was the UCA cheer camp competition, which carried over, filling the beach with over 5,000 people.
Heats were broken into skill level and age. One of the highlights from the earlier brackets was Anna Prophet, a local female skimmer, who shredded lines all over the place making skim history advancing to the semi-pro finals of the competition and landing in the top 5. But for hundreds in attendance under the perfect weather conditions, the anticipation continued to grow awaiting the pro-level skimmers.
I was among those anxiously waiting and I have to say, there was no disappointment. Those guys are good—real good.
Here is the video Jason made from footage shot Friday. He has tons more footage from Saturday’s event that will be published later in the week.
11th Annual Zap Pro/Am Skim Jam from Jason Koertge on Vimeo.
Corbin Dull, a local pro skimmer, won the Zap Pro/Am competition, blistering waves left and right. Other notables was another Panama City Beach local, Lance Richardson, who placed third overall and probably got the most air out of all the contestants. Alex Hood placed fifth overall and had a stunning show. Other awesome performers included, John Ackerman, Blake Tyre and last years champion Mogan Just.
On top of all the great pro skimmers, lots of local amateur skimmers showed their stuff during the free skim. All over the beach, kids and adults of all ages had a blast skimming themselves crazy and watching one heck of a show.
Skimming the History:
I read up on the history of the sport and learned that Skimboarding dates back to the late 1920’s when lifeguards skimmed on pieces of wood. Evolution of the sports has skimboarding as one of the most high-tech water sports anywhere. The boards used by professional skimboarders are built using technology adapted from aerospace to attain maximum lightness, buoyancy, and rocker (which is the curve on the board from one end to the other). In fact, the board used by the average skimboarder is far more technologically advanced than that of the average surfer.
If you’re interested in learning more go here or stop by Mr. Surf’s Surf Shop where you can learn the basics and take a board out for a test run.
Edited: I have to give a shout out to our good buddy Arlene Froeming. Thanks to her and her generosity in loaning me a sweet telephoto lens, we had the ability to produce some stunning close-ups. She does some freelance photography and can be found here. – Jason
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